March 2010.

Greetings from Rio de Janerio, Brazil! I am here on a cultural exchange to and find out more about how to engage with marginalised and excluded communities. I am in a group of British Arts Organisations and Policy makers which includes Royal Shakespeare Company, The Barbican, Contact` Theatre and The South Bank to name but a few. It is certainly a privilege to be selected to join this group and I feel incredibly aware that I have a chance to explain just how we have developed Disability & Deaf arts in the UK.

At the moment I am on a bus leaving Rio to travel to Fortaleza where we are to take part in a conference or ‘Teia' [ www.teia2010.org.br]. The exchange is paid for by the Brazilian and British arts council to particularly examine how culture can change the heart of a community. The government in Brazil put funding into communities based in ‘Favella's'. These are unaddressed homes that are little more than breeze block boxes built onto top of another. They share resources such as water - if they are lucky enough to be near a supply. They tend to be controlled by drug gangs and people who live here face enormous social hardships such as gun fights, lack of access to social support or education. Many of the Favellas are ‘no go‘ areas and we have to be escorted when visiting them.

Teia 2010 is bringing together representatives from the ‘Points of Culture' where the government puts funding into the hands of the Favella communities in order to undertake arts activities, that also include other social opportunities such as reading and IT courses. The most popular and well known is ‘ Afro Reggae' who have worked for 17 years to put music and dance at the heart of the people - giving them a way out of poverty and crime. They are providing things way beyond the cultural offer and even train police [the most genocide force in the world killing around 1,000 inhabitants in Rio alone each year] to deliver music, graffiti [ yes!] and circus workshops in the communities to start to build bridges between two very hostile factions. We have been so welcomed with many samba, dance and drama performances that I am blown away by the pride and passion that the [largely] young people display. The quality is so high due to their time commitment and effort. We hope that when Afro Reggae comes to Liverpool in August we can work with them with Young DaDa.

How is this related to our work? At this point in time I have not yet met with any Disability or Deaf arts, and seeing the issues that people live with - I wonder if our issues are even on the radar; I have seen some disabled people begging for money on the street! Yet, here at the Teia I am due to meet a group of Deaf artists ‘ Visible Words' who I will return to Rio and live with next week. I am hoping to find out more about how disabled and deaf people are included here, if they are supported to be artists and how this all fits into the Olympic Cultural programme for 2016. I will report back in next month's blog. But if you have any questions you would like me to ask or things you want to know please email them to ruth@dadahello.com

Must dash - I just have to go swimming before I melt......

Yours Lady DaDa

 

Ruth Gould - February 2010 Blog.

Here I am sitting at my little lap top in a media centre in down town Vancouver - W2. I am here as part of a cultural exchange with the North West Olympiad cultural programme; the first ever collaboration between the cultural programmes of the summer and winter games. We are here to share work developed from last year's DaDaFest: DaDaVisions - 4 short films that were shown across the UK on 21 Big Screens in city centres [BBC say that they had a people reach of 2.9 million a day]. They have been developed to provoke conversation around Disability issues from genetic research through to the hierarchy of disability. Will let you know how they are perceived.
Vancouver is buzzing - the visitors have exceeded all expectations and on talking with the cities many stewards, they are very surprised at the Games impact. I am more interested in the cultural programme - and more specifically, how is disability arts included? I didn't realise until planning this trip that there are actually Paralympic Winter Games - they have far fewer countries [80 nations in main winter games to just 30 nations for the paralympics].
Being in a new place makes you compare what you have ‘back home'. Access here is not intrinsic at all and you really get the feeling that finances are not available to do some of the most basic of things - the arts centre I am in does not have level access, accessible loos and the cost to hire in a hearing loop is around £2,000. There is not a Disability Discrimination Act equivalent and it really is up to each venue to decide what it can do to be accessible and no one polices what happens. I have not come across one hearing loop since I have been here. Though I must admit the level access to trains/underground are excellent - they put us to shame as all but one has level access from platform to train and have a lift in all stations. The building regulations are very strong for new buildings to be accessible and I have noticed that ‘washrooms' with level access all have an accessible loo as standard - not separate as we are used to.
I must investigate more, but it does look like the public sector funding bodies do not prioritize access.
I was in a venue watching the downhill skiing when an advert came on with Rick Hansen - he is a much acclaimed Canadian who has won several Gold's at the paralympics. He is very similar to Christopher Reeve s and has spent much of his ‘disabled' career raising funds for spinal research. A man watching the advert alongside me [must have known I was a tourist!] explained that all Canadians love him as he has helped the ‘disabled' with level access. The rest of the advert went on to depict inspirational Canadians who are making it against the odds - couldn't follow as no subtitles! No guesses as to what disability stereotype dominates Canadian media!
The cultural programme is vast - people like Bryan Adams and Laurie Anderson feature prominently - eagerly I read the brochure looking for disability arts. Alas just 2 events are featured - both during the paralympic games period, and both developed by Kickstart. The Kickstart Festival [a disability arts festival] includes Bill Shannon amongst others - but in looking at the programme - Kickstart only appears to have two events and will present their work for two nights, a week after the Paralympic Games start. What really surprised me is that Kickstart have actually programmed events from 8th March through to 27th March - something you just cannot pick up from the main cultural programme brochure.
I will be spending time with the artistic director of Kickstart, Geoff McMurchy, and one of my favourite performers [ who was involved in DaDaFest 2005], David Roche - so will report back in part two. So far I'm not too impressed.......bur can't wait to spend time with David and Geoff - perhaps I am missing something and they will put me straight!
Part 2:
I have now spent time with David - he has explained that there are a few disabled artists in Canada - the country is vast, however some good work is taking place in Calgary with Stage Left Theatre company. The real problem is the lack of funding. There are very strict guide lines in gaining Canadian Arts Council Funding. Successful artists like David, supplements his income through school work [TIE, workshops and story-telling] and non-disability arts activities - though all his work features an element of disability arts due to the very nature of David's approaches. He is currently quite busy and I was grateful to the time he gave me - especially in allowing me to stay with him in his beautiful home in Roberts Creek [ north of Vancouver and on the coast]. David has worked hard in and for disability arts culture and I hope we can get him back to Liverpool in 2011.
Right at this moment I am staying with Geoff McMurchy in Victoria on the island of Vancouver. He has been involved as Kickstart's Artistic Director since it first started in 2001 - a festival that started the same year as ours! Kickstart was founded in 1998 to develop arts projects and access, very similar to our ethos. They have held a festival every 3 years and have even had The Nasty Girls [ 2004] perform in Vancouver. Their programme this year is very exciting and features a visual arts exhibition that was oversubscribed by artists from across Canada. Unlike previous years where it has been based at the Roundhouse Arts Centre, this year it takes place in various locations around Vancouver. Alas, I will be long gone before I can see any of the work - but viewing DVD's from past festivals - I love their work and approaches. Geoff and I certainly want to link more and I feel that we can do something together towards 2012 and beyond.
In the filmed conversations at W2 - you are now able to view some interesting talks. The one on 20th focussed on genetic therapy and cyborg anthropology: Geoff and I held a conversation about disability arts and showed our films - we have very similar backgrounds so I was thrilled to be able to continue the talk the next day in Victoria. I would value your responses - go to www.creativetechnology.org to view the conversations and comment - particularly on 20th and 21st February 2010.
Part 3:
The last night - I am exhausted. The trip has been harder than expected, but I am full of admiration to the commitment of both Kickstart and W2 - they hardly get funding yet produce the goods. That's me signing off for February - don't miss the next Blog - coming to you from Brazil!!!!
Ruth - aka Lady DaDa!!!!!